Post-game noise: What the Spurs and Knicks said

Here’s a sampling of what the Spurs and Knicks had to say after San Antonio’s 101-92 victory over New York Friday night, extending their winning streak to eight games.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

(On the interior defense being a key to the victory)

“We did a much better job overall defensively obviously from the first game. The bigs tonight, especially Timmy (Duncan) and DeJuan (Blair), were fantastic with Amar’e (Stoudemire) who is unbelievably difficult to stay with. They did a wonderful job.”

(On the change in the lineup to start the second half…did he get what he wanted from it?)

“Yeah. Richard (Jefferson) had three fouls and we didn’t want to go out and get a quick fourth because we’re a little bit thin without George (Hill), so we had to buy some minutes; so we did that.”

(On if he felt a little snake bit when he found out George Hill had injured himself the way he did)

“No, I didn’t feel snake bit. We’ve been fortunate this year with injuries, but that is a strange injury to get during warm-up. It’s too bad and he got it pretty good, so it could be awhile.”

(On the play of DeJuan Blair the last two or three games…has something changed with his game)

“I think he’s been good all year; it’s not like he just started playing well. I think he’s getting more and more confident as he goes and playing a little bit more loosely and not worrying too much about mistakes.”

(On the play of Tim Duncan)

“Tim was, as we said earlier, wonderful on Amar’e. He did a great job, not just with the blocks, but in overall “D” maybe changing some shots and really clogging it up for us. He did a real good job of that.”

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili

(On what the difference is when DeJuan Blair plays like he did tonight)

“Sometimes I wonder the same thing and then I realize the guy is 21 years old and if I remember what I was at 21, I totally understand it. He’s young, he’s a beast, he plays hard and competes like that. He’s been with us already for a while and he’s 21, so young. Different things go through your head sometimes, you are all pumped up and you’re ready and sometimes things didn’t go your way and you didn’t play as much and you go down and you’ve got zero points. In my case it was like that, so I totally understand him.”

(On the expectations for DeJuan Blair)

“I think when he matures more and gets more settled in the NBA and in the system and everything, I think of course he’s a 10-rebound-a- night guy if he plays steady minutes. He plays so hard and he’s got great hands too. Sometimes it’s going to be hard for him to score depending on how they guard him, but today he had the whole thing. Defensively, he was a monster, he got some baskets, and he finished hard. He was great.”

Spurs guard Tony Parker

(On his play tonight)

“I was just trying to be very aggressive going to the basket and try to make stuff happen for myself and my teammates. My teammates were knocking down shots, DeJuan [Blair] and Timmy [Duncan] played great tonight, just a big win for us.”

(On DeJuan Blair’s play the past few games)

“He’s playing more consistent. I think he’s taking his time, he’s got more confidence in himself. He’s just playing great right now.”

(On what the difference is when DeJuan Blair plays like he did tonight)

“I think he’s just taking more time and he’s getting more patient. I think he’s feeling more comfortable in the system. I love playing pick and roll with him. He’s running to the basket, his timing is great, and Manu [Ginobili] too. He gets offensive rebounds doing all the dirty work, I think he’s just feeling more comfortable out there.”

(On the difference defensively tonight compared to the first game against New York)

“I think the first time we were a little bit satisfied with a great record and I think it was just a great wake-up call when we lost against them. It was a good loss for us because we were winning a lot and I think sometimes it’s good to have a bad loss like that. It made us focus tonight and we played a lot better. It was a great test for our defense and we played great defense tonight.”

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni

(On the Knicks’ fourth quarter inability to close the gap in scoring)

“Well we just didn’t make enough big buckets when we had to. I thought our defense in the third quarter was really good, holding them to 16 points. At the end of the night when you have more offensive rebounds and they have a lot more turnovers, and we take about 20 more shots than they do and you make less shots. Although you have to give them credit because they are long at the basket and there is a reason they are the best team in the league but I think we had a shot at them, we just didn’t make crucial shots. ”

(On Stoudemire being held scoreless in the first quarter and strength of Spurs defense vs. Knicks offense)

“Give them credit, they guard the basket well. It was just one of those nights where we couldn’t make a higher enough percentage and beat them on the road. I’ll have to look at the film a little bit closer in regards to their defense versus our offense but to a certain degree that’s the way it’s going to be. We are just trying to figure things out and go from there. That lineup will be on the floor some and sometimes it won’t, but we have to learn to be efficient no matter what lineup is on the floor. I’ll look at the film, talk to the guys and we will be ready to go tomorrow.”

(On if Stoudemire just didn’t have that lift tonight)

“Maybe. I’ll ask him about it but again we have experienced Duncan a lot of times in the playoffs. He is long and he is one of the best at guarding the basket. Blair does the same thing. He has great hands and I couldn’t tell if he got his hands on the ball all of the time but they said he did (jokingly). We have to try and get Amare some easy hoops and open the floor up for him but they guard him well. I don’t want to take away from the defenders because they are great and they put their heart and soul into it. It was just one of those nights where they were a little bit better than they were.”

(On the Knicks’ current performance)

“I told them and I believe this that we are playing like when we started coming out of the 3-8 start. We play this hard and good things will happen and we will win our share of games. I don’t think you can judge that we didn’t come to San Antonio to win. I thought we played well enough to win but we didn’t shoot the ball well enough to win. But we will do that. We just keep this intensity up with this kind of defense and we are going to win.”

Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire

(On not capitalizing on New York’s forced turnovers)

“It was a little frustrating. I think we gave a great effort in the second half. We applied some energy out there and created some turnovers, but the Spurs played great.”

(On going back to the bench after two quick fouls in the first)

“It wasn’t fun. You definitely want to win and close the games out. You want to have a chance to be in the and do something. The Spurs did a great job executing offensively.”

(On the Spurs maybe looking for a little revenge from their first meeting in New York)

“I think the whole team was. I think Pop maybe chewed them out about the loss in New York and they came out focused, as we should have done.”

(On playing against very physical defenders the last few games)

“It’s not fun. I’m playing aggressive and really trying to apply some energy and I’m getting penalized for it. A lot of guys are playing very, very physical towards me. I’m starting to get injured a lot…my shoulders, arms and hands. I’m starting to get banged up a lot out there and it’s a little frustrating.”

(On needing someone to step up when defenses are keying in on him)

“Teams are definitely going to key in on me every night. There’s no doubt about that. Pretty much their whole defensively strategy if finding out how to stop me out there. We just got to have a collective effort and apply some energy offensively. I think defensively we did a solid job, but we could have done better. We just have to make sure we bring it.”

(On heading into Oklahoma City tomorrow)

“We have to bring the energy. We played an emotional game tonight and we got to make sure we bring that energy against a highly energetic Oklahoma City team tomorrow night.”

Knicks guard Toney Douglas

(On the most frustrating part of tonight’s game)

“It was them getting those second-chance points. We played pretty good defense, then they tip the ball out [on the rebound] and use up more clock and then score. That really hurt us. They did it the whole game, not just down the stretch. In the second half we came out with the defensive intensity and blocking out. We just have to learn to do that for all four quarters.”

(On not capitalizing on their forced turnovers)

“We missed shots. That’s how I feel. It wasn’t our night shooting the ball. There’s going to be nights like that. We’ve got to make sure when we have nights like that that we make sure to always control our defense.”

(On what the Knicks have to do against Oklahoma City)

“We have to come prepared from the start in the first quarter on the defensive end. We’re not worried so much about the offense, we just have to stop people on the defensive end.”